New transitional deacons urged to let people see Jesus in them

Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville celebrated the ordination on behalf of Bishop Choby who continues to recover from a fall in February. Photos by Rick Musacchio

As Anh Tuan Phan and Richard Childress processed down the main aisle of St. Joseph Church in Madison toward the altar and their ordination as transitional deacons, Phan said, “I wasn’t nervous but my palms were sweating.”

“My palms were sweating because I knew I’m not worthy,” said Deacon Phan. “But since the beginning of my life God is working through me.”

The two seminarians for the Diocese of Nashville passed an important milestone toward their ordination as priests, scheduled for the summer of 2018, when Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville laid his hands upon their heads and ordained them as transitional deacons on Friday, April 7.

“We beseech you, Lord: look with favor on these servants of yours, who will minister at your altar and whom we now humbly dedicate to the office of Deacon,” prayed Bishop Stika. “Send forth upon them, Lord, we pray, the Holy Spirit, that they may be strengthened by the gift of your sevenfold grace for the faithful carrying out of the work of the ministry.”

During his homily, Bishop Stika, who celebrated the ordination Mass for Bishop David Choby who could not be there because of his health problems, told of a man from his native St. Louis who built ambos. The man would decorate each with a line from the Gospel of John: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Bishop Stika ordained Richard Childress and Anh Tuan Phan to the transitional diaconate during a Mass at St. Joseph Parish in Madison on Friday, April 7, 2017.

“The two of you have now made a public proclamation,” Bishop Stika said. “People will be saying for the rest your life, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’”

He urged the two men to allow people to see Jesus in their lives as deacons and ultimately as priests, in proclaiming the Gospel and in the breaking of bread at the communion table.

“We should be the face and hands of Jesus to all we meet, but especially the heart of Jesus,” Bishop Stika said.

Bishop Stika’s message resonated with the new transitional deacons. “‘Sir, (we) wish to see Jesus.’ That’s what I’m hoping to do,” said Deacon Childress, who is a seminarian at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. “It was a very good homily. It captured the whole meaning of what we’re doing.”

To Deacon Phan, a native of Vietnam, and to Deacon Childress, a convert to Catholicism, Bishop Stika said both men bring unique perspectives to their work for the Church. “I pray that you might be the best of witnesses,” he told both men.

Bishop Stika told them to give themselves totally to the Church, “to be wedded to your work but also more than that to be wedded to the Church.”

A key moment in the ordination rite for Deacon Phan came when he and Deacon Childress were laying prostrate on the altar as the congregation prayed the Litany of Supplication. “When I was laying down I was thinking I am dying, in a good sense,” Deacon Phan said. When he stood up to have the bishop lay his hands on his head, he thought, “Now I am alive.”

After the ordination rite, the two new deacons assisted Bishop Stika at the altar during the consecration of the bread and wine. “The thing that was most moving for me was being behind the altar and realizing this has been what I’ve been waiting for,” Deacon Childress said.

“I was just taking it moment by moment,” Deacon Childress said of the experience. It felt that his life had been building to this point, he said, and “this is where I was meant to be.”

The church was filled with family, friends and fellow seminarians. “A bunch of people who rarely get together were here,” said a happy Deacon Childress at a reception following the ordination Mass.

That was especially true for Deacon Phan. Many of the crowd were members of the Vietnamese Catholic Community in the Diocese of Nashville. “I looked out and (saw) all my friends and family and their support,” Deacon Phan said.

Thirty-one members of his family were on hand for the ordination, including his grandmother, aunt and older brother who all traveled from Vietnam to be there. He wasn’t sure his grandmother and aunt would be able to make the trip, but found out at the last minute they would be here, Deacon Phan said.

“It’s been five years since the last time our family has been together,” said Deacon Phan, who is a seminarian at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

He noted that during his homily, Bishop Stika talked about the family being the first seminary. “I thought that’s true.” When the bishop said before they were conceived, God knew them, “That was close to me,” Deacon Phan said.

Bishop Choby, who has walked with both men through their formation as seminarians, was unable to be there. But Bishop Stika assured Deacon Phan and Deacon Childress, “Your father is with you in spirit.”